Sure, propaganda can be educational. I read white papers, ads or other industrial propaganda just like anyone. My first word was promotion and I added propaganda afterward, maybe it added too much negativity, sorry.
On the other hand, when reading the article I was disappointed that the article wasn't about the actual exchanges to facilitate finding and purchasing insurance. It was about building a CMS to help the government communicate about [ vaporware (too negative) | something coming soon (rose colored glasses on)].
[Adding more:]
Since you seem to be identifying as the author, thank you for sharing this information about the site. It must have been very interesting to see the modern web dev meet gov.
Adding/editing content by github pull request isn't tremendously impressive. I'm sure the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will appreciate volunteer effort. However, pull requests aren't an avenue for contributions by people outside of a very limited population. It isn't a community/software moderated hive-mind like Wikipedia or StackExchange and I think that the difference goes back to the word propaganda.
Education takes many forms and propaganda is a description of education at its most one-sided and didactic. This website will have the information that the CMS thinks will (and wants to) use for many purposes including "educating the uninsured." As modern as the technology stack is, the human stack did not change. I'm sure there will be non-governmental initiated wikis and Q/A websites for people to cooperatively educate themselves about the real deal, so a fresh coat of paint on the status quo isn't so bad.
Thank you for the additional clarity on what you meant! Yes, I wrote this. I'd like to tackle a piece on the exchanges themselves too, at some point, but that would be another feature, not least because of the diversity of state approaches and the fact that the federal version isn't done yet.
On the other hand, when reading the article I was disappointed that the article wasn't about the actual exchanges to facilitate finding and purchasing insurance. It was about building a CMS to help the government communicate about [ vaporware (too negative) | something coming soon (rose colored glasses on)].
[Adding more:] Since you seem to be identifying as the author, thank you for sharing this information about the site. It must have been very interesting to see the modern web dev meet gov.
Adding/editing content by github pull request isn't tremendously impressive. I'm sure the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will appreciate volunteer effort. However, pull requests aren't an avenue for contributions by people outside of a very limited population. It isn't a community/software moderated hive-mind like Wikipedia or StackExchange and I think that the difference goes back to the word propaganda.
Education takes many forms and propaganda is a description of education at its most one-sided and didactic. This website will have the information that the CMS thinks will (and wants to) use for many purposes including "educating the uninsured." As modern as the technology stack is, the human stack did not change. I'm sure there will be non-governmental initiated wikis and Q/A websites for people to cooperatively educate themselves about the real deal, so a fresh coat of paint on the status quo isn't so bad.